Fall Memories (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Ilna and Sammy)
by ilna
Summary: Steve and Catherine remember a particular fall day in Annapolis.


**Notes: **Huge thanks to Sammy for finishing up the story as I'm under the weather. And hugs to Mari for reading even when she wasn't feeling weather. You two are the best!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated. Apologies for the late post.

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_Fall Memories (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Ilna and Sammy)_

"This is a great picture. Where did it come from?" Steve asked as he picked up the photo of a young Catherine happily perched in a pile of leaves with her dog Salty.

"Mom dropped it off earlier." Catherine smiled softly. "She found it in an old book."

Steve studied the picture. "Do you think she misses living somewhere with a change of seasons?"

"The fall maybe." Catherine chuckled. "But definitely not the winter."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Do you remember that time we raked leaves for the Mills?"

"I'll never forget it."

* * *

"_Plans for the weekend, McGarrett?" Catherine asked as they walked side by side back toward Bancroft Hall._

"_Uh yeah. Kind of. Mrs. Mills asked me to come rake the leaves in their yard. The colonel's back is acting up and she's afraid he's going to try to do it himself."_

"_Ooh," she said, wincing in sympathy for the colonel. "Definitely better if he doesn't rake leaves then." She smiled up at him. "That's nice of you to help out."_

"_They've been really good to me, I'm happy when I get the chance to pay them back."_

"_I don't think that's why they do it."_

_His lips quirked in a small smile. "I know, but still."_

_ "Still," she echoed. "We don't get a ton of liberty, it's nice of you to use a day to help them."_

_ "A day?" he said, surprised._

"_They've got a pretty good-sized yard and lot of big trees. I bet there's a ton of leaves."_

"_How long could it take? A half hour or so?"_

_She laughed. "What? You've never raked leaves before?"_

_He shrugged. "I did some yard work when I was a kid. But trees in Hawaii aren't exactly on the same kind of seasonal cycle as here."_

"_I hate to break it to you, but that's gonna take more than a half hour, Steve."_

_He looked at her doubtfully. "Really?"_

"_One person? Probably most of the afternoon." _

_He blinked, taking in the information. "Huh."_

"_Do you want some help?"_

_He glanced at her. "You offering, Rollins?"_

_She shrugged. "Sure. I haven't raked leaves in years." She smiled. "It'll be fun. We'll make a big enough pile to jump in. Bet you've never done that either."_

"_Uh, yeah, no. Seems kind of … counter-productive."_

_She nudged his arm. "Ah, come on, McGarrett. Live a little."_

_He grinned. "All right, you're on."_

* * *

_That Saturday they arrived at the Mills' house promptly after lunch as requested by Mrs. Mills. The day was bright and sunny, brisk but not too cold. _

_Mrs. Mills smiled gratefully as she waved them into the house. "Steve, Catherine, so good to see you both. Thank you for coming."_

"_Sure, Mrs. Mills," Steve said. _

"_We're happy to help," Catherine added._

"_Is the colonel here?" Steve asked, glancing around, not hearing the sounds of movement anywhere in the house._

"_Oh no, I convinced a friend of his to invite him to go to the cider mill and watch them press the apples into cider. That should give you plenty of time to take care of the leaves. If he saw you out here, he'd want to help and probably throw his back out."_

"_Ah, a stealth leaf-raking," Catherine said with a grin._

_Mrs. Mills smiled. "Exactly."_

"_We'll have it done before he gets back," Steve assured her._

"_I'm sure you will," she said. "Plus there will be cider and donuts when he does."_

"_Oh, you didn't have to do that," Catherine said. "But I won't say no to cider and donuts."_

_ "I have to run a couple errands," Mrs. Mills said. "The rakes and tarp are in the garage. Our neighbor three doors down, Bill Holt, do you remember him, Steve?"_

_ Steve nodded. "In the blue house?"_

_ "That's right. He takes all the neighborhood yard waste and composts it. Turns it into mulch and fertilizer. Just drag the leaves down to his house. He's expecting you."_

"_Okay," Steve said._

"_And thank you again, you're lifesavers," she said. _

"_Or backsavers, at least," Catherine amended._

"_For the colonel, yes," Mrs. Mills said and smiled. "For the person who would have to listen to his moaning and groaning, you're lifesavers."_

* * *

_ After Mrs. Mills left on her errands, Steve and Catherine collected two large rakes from the garage along with a huge blue tarp. They started in the front yard, clearing off enough space to spread out the tarp and get to work._

_ Standing on opposite sides of the tarp, they began to rake leaves onto it, but Catherine stopped after just a few strokes, watching Steve._

_ He caught her eyeing him and stopped as well. "What?"_

"_You really haven't done this before, have you?"_

_He looked around, then back at her. "What?" he asked again._

"_You should keep your arms up," she said, motioning to his rake. "Don't bend over so much."_

_He grinned. "Hey, you've got your method, I've got mine."_

"_Your method is wrong," she countered, one hand going to her hip._

_He nodded at the tarp and said, "It's getting leaves on the tarp." Turning, he went back to raking._

"_Your back won't thank you for that later." When he tossed her an unconcerned grin and continued raking, she shook her head. "Don't say I didn't warn you."_

_She turned back to her side of the tarp, keeping her back straight and using her arms and hips to pull the leaves toward her._

"_Want to make it interesting?" he asked as he raked._

"_I'm listening," she said, continuing to work but unable to hide her smile. _

_ He looked over his shoulder at her, grinning. "Last one to clear their side drags the tarp to Mr. Holt's."_

_ She turned to look at him and he straightened to face her. "How big an area on each side?" she asked._

_ He looked at the tarp then studied the surrounding leaves. "Say, six feet?"_

_ She looked around, doing her own mental configurations, then nodded. "You're on."_

_ Grinning, they held each other's gazes for a beat then both simultaneously turned and started quickly raking. Leaves flying, they laughed even as they worked feverishly to clear their sides._

_ With a twinkle in his eye, he pulled the rake hard toward him and some of the leaves flew over the tarp onto her side of the yard._

"_Hey!" she said, her head whipping around toward him._

"_What?" he said, shrugging innocently and continuing to work. "I'm raking here."_

_She eyed him, fighting a grin. "I'm gonna get you back for that, McGarrett." _

"_I'd be disappointed otherwise," he quipped._

_She raked the errant leaves back onto the tarp as they raced to finish first._

"_Done!" he said a split second before she turned._

"_Done!"_

"_I think I got you, Rollins," he said, grinning._

"_And I think you cheated, McGarrett."  
_

_"Too close to call?" he amended._

"_Better," she agreed._

_Setting down his rake, he walked to the bottom of the tarp, grabbing up two corners. "Come on," he said. "Mr. Holt's that way."_

_She gathered up the other two corners and together they dragged the tarp full of leaves down the street to the neighbor's. He showed them his compost pile and where to put the leaves. After depositing their first batch, they assured him they'd be back with plenty more._

* * *

_ The front yard was finished an hour later after four tarps of leaves had been taken to Mr. Holt's. While they worked to clear a spot in the backyard for the tarp, Catherine saw an opportunity for payback. When Steve turned his back, she scooped up some of the leaves he'd raked onto the tarp._

_ "Hey, Steve," she said, and as he turned, tossed them in his direction._

_ He sputtered, shaking his head to dislodge the leaves that had landed there. She laughed as he eyed her._

_ "Oh, that's how it's gonna be?" he asked, eyebrows raised. He grabbed his rake, low on the handle, and used a hand to gather a huge rakeful of leaves._

_ Guessing his intention, she took a step back, putting up a hand. "Steve …"_

_ "What? I'm not allowed to retaliate?" he asked, taking a step toward her._

_ Laughing, she took off, ducking behind a tree as he quickly followed. She used the trunk as cover, trying to juke left, then right, but he didn't bite._

_ "It's only a matter of time, Rollins," he said, smiling broadly._

_ Her smile dropped and she straightened suddenly, looking over his shoulder. "Oh, hi, Colonel," she said._

_ He immediately turned and when he did, she ran past him, laughing. Realizing he'd been tricked, he ran after her, dumping his gathered leaves over her head when she stopped on top of the tarp._

_ Still laughing, she brushed the debris off of her shoulders and hair._

_ "At least most of it ended up back on the tarp," he said, then rolled his eyes in understanding. "Which is why you stopped here."_

_ She grinned, shrugging. "Practical."_

_ "Practical," he repeated._

* * *

_ Working together like a well-oiled machine they made five more trips to Mr. Holt's compost pile. _

_ "I think we can finish up in two more trips," Steve said as they made their way back Mills' yard._

_ "Let's make it one extra big one." Catherine's smile lit her eyes and accentuated her pink from the cool air cheeks. "That way once we get them all on the tarp we can jump in them."_

_Steve's eyebrows knit together. "You were serious about that?"_

"_Of course I was serious about that." She brushed a strand of hair off her forehead. "It's fun."_

_Twenty minutes they stood in front of their largest pile of leaves of the day._

"_So you just jump into them?" Steve asked._

"_Well, you have to get a running start." Catherine backed up slightly. "Then you jump into them."_

_She motioned for him to try, but he eyed her. "You're gonna jump, too, right? This isn't some elaborate payback plan to get me more covered in leaves and looking like a fool, is it?"_

"_Who am I, Lucy with the football? Of course I'm gonna jump, too."_

_Steve shook his head. "I don't understand this at all."_

"_Watch and learn, Island Boy."_

_Catherine ran towards the pile of leaves and when she was close enough dove forward with abandon. She flipped over in mid-air, much like a high jumper, and came down on her back, arms and legs spread wide, in the pile of leaves. _

_The smile on her face and the sound of her laughter made Steve eager to share the experience. Within a few seconds he copied her actions and ended up laying beside her looking up at the clear blue sky._

"_Well?" she asked._

"_It was … different."_

_Catherine moved her limbs as if making a snow angel. "Don't you just love the smell?"_

_Steve inhaled deeply. Hints of Catherine's shampoo mixed with the dried leaf scent he'd become very familiar with over the last several hours. "Yeah, I do."_

_Something in his tone made Catherine turn towards him and their eyes locked. Not sure how to process what she was feeling she jumped up._

"_Umm … we better rake up our mess and get rid of this last load before the colonel gets home and tries to help."_

_Ten minutes later they were making their way back to the Mills' house when Catherine noticed Steve rubbing his lower back. When he saw her watching him he tried to cover it as a stretch. Her knowing look and small chuckle told him she wasn't buying it at all_

"_All right," he sighed. "Go ahead."_

"_I didn't say a word."_

_ As soon as the tarp and rakes were stowed in the garage Mrs. Mills appeared on the back porch with two mugs of warm cider._

_ "I can't thank the two of you enough." She smiled. _

_ "Our pleasure." Steve took both mugs and handed one to Catherine. "Any time."_

_ The sound of a ringing phone filled the air and Mrs. Mills excused herself and hurried back inside the house. Steve and Catherine sat down side by side on the top step and surveyed their work._

_ "It looks good." Catherine smiled as she took a long sip of cider._

_ Out of the corner of her eye she saw Steve's hand moving towards her. A second later he plucked a few pieces of dried leaves from her hair. "It sure does," he said softly._

_ Before she could react the colonel's booming voice preceded him around the side of the house. "You should have waited for me. I would have helped."_

* * *

"Daddy! Cas-sel!" Angie said insistently as she waved her plastic bucket and small shovel and pointed to the back door.

"Looks like you're on sand castle duty." Catherine kissed his cheek.

He smiled, standing.

"Just remember to try not to bend over too much," she said with a grin. "It's bad for your back."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

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